"This incident happened in our Amritsar Best Price cash and carry store," said Rajneesh Kumar, vice president and head of corporate affairs at Walmart India. The company came to know about the theft on October 22 morning.

An FIR has been filed with the local police station, Kumar said. He declined to comment on the amount stolen, saying that the police is looking into the matter and only after the investigation would they be able to ascertain the total amount.

A report in the Tribune newspaper said cash of Rs 39 lakh was stolen. The police have taken four people into custody, including the manager of the store and security guards who were on duty that night, according to the report.

The cash was kept in a safe that needed a security code to open. The police suspects an insider job because there was no sign of any damage to the safe.

The CCTV cameras were switched off when the theft took place, the Tribune quoted Jasdeep Singh, SSP, Amritsar rural police, as saying.